GOOD READING AND LISTENING FOR THE WEEKEND …

The federal Coalition has many ideological cleavages. The division between liberals and conservatives has been most prominently on display in the same-sex marriage issue, and is again on display in arguments about intervening in the energy market to privilege the coal industry. In an article in The AtlanticThe passing of the libertarian movement Kevin Williamson describes similar tensions in America’s Republican Party.

In case you’re thinking of putting in a bid to buy the Liddell power station from AGL, The Australia Institute has a report on the station’s generation costs and reliability. A used Leyland P76 may be a better investment.

The Consumers’ Health Forum has released a major report into out-of-pocket costs incurred by people with serious conditions. People surveyed by the CHF found that many of those surveyed, despite having health insurance “still had to pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for critical surgery, other treatment and diagnostic scans”. The full report is summarised in a press release.

Last week on Pearls and IrritationsPeter Johnstone, Convenor of the Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform, wrote calling for systemic reform of the Church in Australia. On the ABC Religion and Ethics Report he asks Australian bishops to release and act upon the Report of the Church’s Justice and Healing Council (8 mins).

Former prime minister Tony Abbott says that around 400 white farmers have been murdered in South Africa over the past 12 months. RMIT ABC Fact Check takes a look at the data – the ABC.

On Saturday Extra this 7th April, Geraldine Doogue is speaking to Michael Ignatieff , president and rector of the Central European University. He is discussing the two very different approaches to populism comparing Theodore Roosevelt to Viktor Orban in the lead up to the Hungarian elections; are we about to see another Gaza War?’ the twists and turns in the forthcoming Malaysian elections with James Chin, University of Tasmania and Ross Tapsell, ANU; HRW Burma researcher Richard Weir; our oral health with Professor John Dwyer and Lesley Russell and the life of Aboriginal advocate Mary Montgomerie Bennett with historian Sue Taffe. http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/

Gerald Murnane – a great Australian novelist you may not have heard of – the Guardian